DIY Off Camera Shoe Cord

DIY Off Camera Shoe Cord

Lately I have been wondering why I pay the full price for things. I am no cheapskate, I will and do pay a premium if I feel I am getting value, but eBay has made me see there are lower prices if only you are willing to look for them. I’m starting to regret paying £350 for my 580ex when I can get a heck of a lot of lighting gear for the same price. You live and learn. Hence this post …

Since I bought my Canon Off Camera Shoe Cord I have found it annoying. It is either too long or too short depending on what I want to do with it. Because it is coiled it springs back rather than staying put. It faces forward from the camera so gets in the way of the lens or appears in shot. Worst of all, it was £45. On the plus side you get full TTL and ought to be robust … but I don’t use TTL

For less than £10 I made a replacement from parts bought on ebay. You could also buy everything new for a couple of quid more plus delivery. This puppy can be any size I want, if you want it just for a flash bracket to mount your flash on the side rather than the hotshoe you don’t even need any cable, just the two ends (as shown).

1x PC to Hotshoe Adapter
1x (optional) PC extension cord
1x Hotshoe to PC Adapter

Even if you buy decent stuff from somewhere like Warehouseexpress and buy the more robust coiled cables it is still going to set you back way less than £40.

I might never pay full price again!

Added: More detail as requested

Hot shoe Adapter with PC flash synchro socket.

->
Flash extension cord with right-angle plug and PC socket (male one end, female at other).

->
PC flash synchro to hot shoe flash connector.

Much as I dislike Adoramas credit card policy (which they seem to have overlooked since I ranted about it) you can get all of this for $25.40, almost half the price of Warehouseexpress. (Obviously you need to pay shipping and possibly customs charges but if part of a larger order you are effectively quids in).

If you know a friend also wants to put one of these together go into the same order to save on delivery costs, these things are extremely light so adding multiple items shouldn’t bump up the postage.

The trick with buying this stuff off ebay is to find a supplier who A) has a low delivery price (£5 for a tiny component? On yer bike mate) or B) is willing to bundle multiple purchases into one delivery. No point in paying £15 for this otherwise you might as well buy from a store. Best thing to do is to ask, if they say no just move onto the next merchant.

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